Magic Academy
Table of Contents Home Page Map of the Barony Player Notes Homebrew Elements Sundria Dragons Ships Gods and Metaphysics Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales Barony Laws Miscellaneous Lore Magic Academy of Sundria The Magic Academy is organized into eight schools, one for each school of magic. Generally, students study at one school, while also taking occasional electives in one or more other schools. It is considered better to be a Dedicant – focus on one school and dabble in the rest – than to be truly well-rounded, but there are always at least a few students – Allocants – who divide their time roughly equally between all or several schools. Their time is tougher, and while they almost never reach the heights of knowledge and power that a Dedicant might, the Allocants are often in higher demand, especially to nobleman who recognize the value of a bodyguard who can fight, but can also see the future, teleport, and transform. Rules Magic of any kind is prohibited for students outside of the Magic Academy, but one will occasionally find a younger student in a tavern muttering the vocal component of Prestidigitation into their mug of ale, trying to get it colder. More rarely, a hotheaded student will lash out at someone with magic, in which case they are invariably whisked off to the Academy, where rumor has it they face a more dire consequence than anything the City Guard could pull off. Ten weeks without a passed class is grounds for instant expulsion, except in very special cases (such as tutorships or a serious and prolonged illness). Structure The fastest anyone has ever graduated from the Magic Academy is six years, fourteen weeks. The slowest may take ten to fifteen years. Generally students enroll at age 16. While there is no actual rule on the books about age, generally students enroll at 16, with some students ranging toward 18, or less commonly up to 20. Students with ages above 20 or below 16 are incredibly rare. Each class meets every day for six weeks straight, and centers around one spell, theory, technique, or other topic. There is no set semester or vacation schedule, but each professor teaches just six weeks out of every eight, and a student who plans well can take a full load of courses but still get the occasional break. A full load is considered to be four overlapping courses (“full load time” is the period of time when four or more of your classes are meeting on the same day). There is technically no maximum courseload (although more than six is impossible due to scheduling), and although there is no minimum, your family pays tuition from the day you start to the day you finish (either by graduation or permanent expulsion), so taking less than four is rare. It is a sign of both extreme wealth and an indifference about the sneering looks your fellow students give you when they discover you “can’t take the heat” and are taking just a few classes at a time. Classes are pass-fail, and although you can technically add or drop at any time, the exams are difficult enough that missing just the first few days can leave you completely lost. Students, Faculty, and Alumni The Academy is run by Archmage Iron Bar-Din (15th level Wizard), a kindly middle-aged dwarf female. Her specialties are Evocation and Abjuration (i.e. battle magic). She tries to stay out of politics, but the Council is slowly persuading her to take part in the occasional skirmish with marauding bandits or other military problems. She is served by eight High Wizards, each of which is in charge of a school. Under those are the professors and tutors. Each school has between ten and fifteen professors, who lead one or two classes each and also conduct research of their own. A tutor is a professor who has received special permission to take on one to three specific students for an extended period, during which time they conduct their research and train the students. Participating in a tutorship is coveted both by professors and students, the former getting more time for their pet projects, and the latter getting one-on-one time with a professor, which is rare in the normal class setting. Generally speaking, there are less than a dozen tutors at any given time across the entire Magic Academy, not counting the High Wizards, who are always offered a permanent tutorship as part of their position. The “Archmage’s Pet,” High Wizard Peter Peyton (13th level Wizard), runs the Transmutation school. He tutors a young elf woman named Elien Fallstar, to the surprise of everyone who knew her. Rumors about an inappropriate relationship abound. Salzac Bar-Hafiger (the Spirit Murderer) was a professor of Necromancy and Conjuration, trained as an Allocant. He was largely ignored until Peter Peyton discovered that some of his more impressive experimental results came at the expense of several human lives, used to directly power his research. A secret investigation concluded that he was in fact acting illegally, which constituted a risk to the Academy’s reputation that needed to be controlled or eliminated. Rejecting the offer to continue his teaching and research with the condition that he be under constant supervision, Salzac instead fled arrest, taking only his spellbook with him. Since then he has been on the run, and he is considered an active threat to the safety of Sundria and its people. Orchendor Bar-Issen is one of the current professors in Necromancy, and one of the leading figures in research into curses and magical items (especially cursed ones).